With the advent of cable television networks, cable customers have grown accustomed to receiving a variety of television programming from numerous broadcasting sources. In recent years, technology advances have enabled customers to receive an even greater variety of services through cable services networks. Modem cable services networks provide traditional video television programming, telephone services, high-speed Internet access, electronic mail services, video-on-demand, information services, and the like. Through the use of set-top boxes (computing systems) cable services providers can provide interactive television services to customers. Such interactive television services allow customers to interact directly with services providers in response to services and product offerings presented to the customers through their personal television sets.
For provision of electronic mail services, a cable customer may view electronic mail messages on the customer's local television screen via an interactive television session. The customer's set-top box typically serves as a client-side computing device for displaying electronic mail messages to the customer's television screen. Typically, electronic mail messages are received and stored at a backend electronic mail server. The customer accesses the electronic mail server from the customer's set-top box via the cable services network. In order to prevent unauthorized users from gaining access to a given customer's electronic mail messages, an authorization and authentication process is typically employed to verify a customer's authorized access to electronic mail files.
In typical electronic mail environments, an electronic mail user must provide credentials such as a username and password to gain access to electronic mail files. However, because most cable customers interact with their television sets through remote control devices, entry of such credentials is difficult. Prior systems sometimes utilize soft keyboards presented on television screens with which a user may slowly and tediously enter credentials such as usernames and passwords. Other systems cause remote control device keys to act as modified keyboards for entry of credentials. With such systems, entry of electronic mail access credentials is cumbersome, time consuming and error prone.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved method and system for provision of electronic mail services via a cable services network. There is further a need for an improved method and system for interactively providing electronic mail system access credentials via a cable services network interactive television session. It is with respect to these and other considerations that the present invention has been made.